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FLOAT SWITCH Filed D90. 18. 1930 INVENTOR.

Fall! F. 5/1 z'rera A TTORNEYS of the device Patented Sept. 6,1932 7 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ram. 1*. snIvEas', or wanasn,

INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO MINNEAPOLI$HONEYWELL wear;

FLOAT SWITCH Application ma December 1a, 19ao. Serial a. 503,191.

The object of my invention is to provide,

as an article of manufacture, a buoyant cir- (suit-controlling element of the mercury tube type, the construction being such that it may 6 serve as a circuit switch variably positioned in accordance with variations in'the level of a liquid with which the said device is buoyantly associated.

The accompanying drawing illustrates my invention.

Fig. 1 is anelevation in partial section of my improved device, which may be conveniently referred to as a float switch, and

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic illustration of one manner of desirable use for said float switch.

In the drawing 10 indicates a hollow glass bulb preferably sealed liquid-tight or at any rate having such an imperforate area as that, when submer ed to a desired vextent in a liquid, said'hquid will not enter the bulb and the bulb will retain its buoyant'value. Formed integralwith bulb 10, but isolated from the interior thereof, is a tubular container 11 within which are sealed electric ter-- mlnals 12 and 13 and a mobile electrical conductor 14, such for instance as a globule of mercury, which, in one position of the device will electrically bridge between the terminals 12 and 13, and in another position will recede from one or both of said terminals to leave an electrical gap therebetween. Terminals 12 and 13 are electrical- .ly projected through a wall of container 11 for the convenient attachment of circuit I .wires.

In use my improved device may be mounted in a suitable movable holder 15 such that the bulb 10 may be 'buoyantly affected by an associated body of liquid 16 in such manner that variations in the level of said liquid will shift the tubular portion 11 in such manner as to cause the mobile body 14 to move to or from electrical connecting association with the terminals 12 and 13.

The above-described device, being a single unitary structure provides a buoyant switch structure which may be readily mounted for tilting action and eliminates the necessity for intermediate connections between a buoyant body and a mercury type switch which have been necessary in previous structures.

The electrode 12 is insulated, as indicated at 17, from its root throughout the greater portion of its length, so that tilting of the neck in one direction will cause electrical connection while tilting in the other direction will not cause such connection.

I claim as my invention:

1. A glass body comprising a sealed chambered portion, electrical. terminals sealed through the wall of said chambered portion and a mobile electrical conductor sealed in said chambered portion, and a second chamberedportion isolated from the first-chambered portion as to the said mobile conductor and having a buoyant value such as to be capable, when associated with a variable level body of liquid, to shift the terminal-carrying portion to vary the relation between the terminals and mobile electric conductor.

2. As an article of manufacture, a unitary buoyant container havin a .bulb portion and a hollow neck portion, the said bulb portion having a buoyant value sufiicient to tilt said neck portion, and a fluid electrode type switching mechanism sealed in said neck portion. with two terminals accessible from the exteriorof the article.

3. As an article of manufacture, a unitar buoyant container comprising non-communieating bulb and chambered neck portions, the bulb portion having a buoyant value sufficient to tilt said neck portion, and fluid electrode switching means sealed in said neck portion with 'two terminals accessible from the exterior of the article.

4. As an article of manufacture, a unitary buo ant container having an elongated electrode chamber and a buoyant portion at one end of said chamber, a pair of spaced electrodes sealed through the wall of said elongated chamber and extending within the chamber toward the buoyant end, a globule of conductive fluid sealed in said chamber and adapted to bridge said spaced electrodes, and an insulating medium covering the major part of at least one of said electrodes from the point of entry into the chamber toward the uoyant end whereby said electrodes will only be bridged by said fluid upon tilting of saidcontainer in one direction.

5. As an article of manufacture, a unitary buoyant glass container composed of a bulb portion and an independently chambered neck portion, the bulb having a buoyant value suflicient to tilt the neck portion, a pair of spaced electrodes sealed through the wall of the neck portion and extending longitudinally within said neck toward the bulb portion, an insulating medium covering the major part of at least one of said electrodes from its point of entry into the neck portion, and a globule of conductive fluid also sealed in the neck portion and adapted to bridge said spaced electrodes upon tilting of the neck portion in one direction only.

6. As an article of manufacture, a unitary buoyant glass container composed of a bulb portion and an independently chambered elongated neck portion, the bulb having a buoyant value sufiicient to tilt the neck portion when said article is pivotally supported on an axis transverse to its neck portion, a pair of spaced electrodes i sealed through the wall of the neck portion, and a globule of conductive fluid also sealed in the neck portion and adapted to bridge said spaced electrodes in untilted position about an axis trans verse to the neck portion and to flow free from such bridging connection in another tilted position.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Wabash, Indiana, this 11 day of De cember, A. D. one thousand nine hundred and thirty.

PAUL F. SHIV'ERS. 

